And What An Adventure It Is!

All right everyone. We're back in business for a few days.  We moved out of our hotel into our house after 2 nights. We didn't have internet so today's the first day I've been able to catch up.  We were provided a driver on Friday by Brad's work and headed over to the house to find the property manager there overseeing some things that should have been done in time for us to be there in July.  Things are done very backward in that respect here.  After talking to several people, it seems that the changes and repairs that need to be made to a dwelling for it's new tennent are not actually started until you arrive.  In our case, they said they weren't sure when we'd get here, but initially, they thought we'd be here in July so that makes no sense to me.  

So after visiting the house, we went to the local strip mall and bought 2 air matresses (coleman :)  ) and pump, a pack and play, 4 fans with adapters (there are 3 differnt plug configurations here and everything that plugs in has a different plug yet none of them match our sockets), cleaning supplies and cook out items.  Unfortunately for Brad, the pump plugs into a car and he forgot this and let the driver go before blowing up the matresses.  I hate to say he got a little light headed that evening blowing up those matresses.  

We own a stove, fridge, washer, dryer, TV and DVD player but were unable to get those delivered or hooked up for a couple of days.  So that first day, we had PB and J with something resembling cheese puffs and apples for lunch and then Brad lit a fire in our fire pit outside and grilled dinner for us.

The girls were very excited about "helping" with the dinner prep.  Brad had bought a whole chicken (which they've never seen--their momma's a bit spoiled by modern conveniences) and they were intrigued/appalled by the process of cutting up that chicken.  The best part was the "eeeewwwww's" we got when Brad reached inside and pulled out the bag of 'inards' and feet.  Yes, I said feet.  I wouldn't know this is abnormal because I've never purchased anything but pretty little skinned and deboned chicken breasts myself.  But apparantly, the feet are not included in the US.  After many questions and looks of disgust, they all went out and placed the chicken on the grill and then opened a can of english peas and placed them in the coals to cook.  We had also purchased a couple of aluminum pots and Brad put a pot of potatoes and eggs on the grill to boil. At this point, Brad announces he's sorry but that's the extent of his Boy Scout training.  After 2 days of airplane food and 2 days of room service, this was one one of the best meals I've ever eaten - even without any seasonings. Kaitlyn was pleasantly surprised while Samantha was unimpressed and resorted to her PB&J. 

The next day, we received a visit from a family from home that just came over in September.  They have been living in the guest house rented by Brad's employer and came to check on us.  It was so good to see a familiar face.  We actually met them when we visited in May --they were visiting also.  They were headed to a craft fair and offered to bring us lunch.  They also helped us secure some help to get the house livable.  There was about an inch of dirt on every surface.  A woman named Grace came for Saturday and Sunday and scrubbed and polished all the floors, closet and cabinet surfaces.  A waxy polish is put on all the floors here.  We have a combination in our home: 2 rooms of ceramic tiles, 1 room and foyer of parque, 2 rooms with outdoor carpet directly over concrete, and 2 bedrooms and hallway with white cafeteria/hospital tiles.  Everything except the carpet received a mopping, waxing and polishing.  We are no longer sliding on dirt, but we ARE sliding everywhere.  We don't have a vacuum cleaner yet so I expected Grace to skip those rooms, but instead she swept the carpets with a hand broom then "swept" them again with the hand broom using water and a blue paste-like soap.  She did this process twice in each of the carpeted rooms.  

It was such a relief when that was done.  We couldn't sit anything down for the dirt and it took 3 baths to get the black off the girls' feet and knees.  Our sweet friends brought us back 2 pizzas for lunch/dinner and promised to check on us the next day.  The girls and I had spent the morning playing on the air matresses in the "cool room" (the only air conditioned room in the house).  Unfortunately for us, some of those activities included a pencil that was then discarded, sat upon and then punctured the girls' air mattress.   They didn't understand why, or think it was fair that THEY had to sleep on a pallet and Mommy and Daddy got the mattress. I just left it at "Mommy and Daddy are just too old".  Following dinner, we moved to the "cool room" (one of the bedrooms) where we put a movie on Brad's computer for the girls for a simulated "pizza and movie night". We had an uneventful night with the exception that we all woke many times due continued Jet lag.

On Sunday, we woke the first time at 5:30am (the sun comes up at 5) but managed to go back to sleep for awhile.  We had PB&J for Breakfast and then I tried to unpack some trunks into the newly cleaned closets.  Each of the bedrooms has built in "closets" with many shelves and a clothes bar.  Over the "closets" are 2 more doors that open to more storage. It was a relief to be able to find clean clothes for everyone.  We had PB&J (again) for lunch (Samantha's heaven) then  that afternoon, our friends came back and decided we needed to get out of the house and eat something other than PB&J (God Bless them!)  

They loaded their family (they have an 8 year old son and a 2 year old daughter) and Kailtyn and headed to their house while Brad and I packed.  They returned for the rest of us and we had a wonderful afternoon of swimming in their pool.  Andy and Brad went and picked up Chinese take-out for dinner.  The kids had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (apparently available in the commissary) and watched Alice in Wonderland while we ate. (Sounds like home doesn't it-- it felt like it too). We were invited to spend the night (on beds!) and that was the best night's sleep I'd had yet.  It's amazing how at home I felt just walking into a home with furniture.  It was like my body sighed with relief at not having to sit or lie on the floor.  I know it sounds rediculous, we were only without furniture for 2 days, but it is what it is.

Andy and Adrian then arranged to move 2 extra beds they had in storage (for their house when they move into it) and 2 couches to our house.  So at this point, we're minimally furnished with the exception of a table and chairs to eat at.  We were told we could move back into the hotel until we got our security set up and were able to secure a table and chairs.    It's nice to be back in a little more comfort, but I also look forward to getting settled into our home (one day).

We had some frustrating news today.  Brad has been trying to get in touch with the man overseeing the shipment of our furniture but has been unable to get him to return his emails.  Turns out there's a good reason.  He had told Brad (over a month ago) that our container had been shipped and would probably arrive in 4-5 weeks.  This was one of the reasons we needed to get here--so we could receive it when it arrived and not have to pay for storage.  Well, turns out, this man was not sure where our container was and assumed it was on a ship.  Brad has had his dad trying to track it down.  He contacted the owner of the company and it turns out our furniture is still sitting in a warehouse in Savannah, Georgia.  His excuse was that there was a risk taking it on the route he had initially planned and it would cost much more than he quoted and we agreed upon, to send it due to this need to hire security to escort it past Zimbabwe.  I'm not sure what his plan was 1) wait  for things to settle down and get cheaper (could be years) or 2) hope that we would take our money back and just store it.    At this point, number two would be good for me except we have another family's things that are newly purchased specifically for that container and we purchased several costly items to work on the current used here and that would not be of use to us anywhere at home.  So,  we would appreciate everyones prayers on behalf of our stuff.  Instead of borrowing minimal furniture and "making due" for a couple of weeks, we'll be doing it a minimal of 3 months (probably) and that's if we can get the guy to follow through.  Right now, the girls' number one complaint is that they want THEIR beds--no other.

Got to get some sleep so I can tend to the zoo.  We're attempting to get  Zambian driver's license tomorrow (word is, it can take an entire day--tomorrow will be our second attempt--We got halfway through today and then the cameras "crashed"--here's hoping they're working tomorrow).

Signing out,

The Zookeeper